Networks of Destiny: Corruption of Light
by MegaBlastDragon
Summary: A virus has started to spread through out the Digital World and it's origins are unknown causing Digimon to become aggressive. When Leya becomes the first Digidestined to get infected, can she find a cure before she becomes completely corrupted?
1. Chapter 1

I'm back at it again with a new story! I'm gonna be trying something new for this one so if things turn a little dark at times don't judge me too harshly. Anyway I will take OC's for this the format will be at the end of the chapter and as a disclaimer: There will be a chance of character death! If you are okay with that send me your OC! (Note: I will _only_ take OC's in the format I layout below, anything less makes it really hard to portray your character to your liking)

Oh and before I forget: If you are a fan of the Networks of Destiny series or just plain curious as to what the hell is going on I highly recommend that you read my fellow writers stories. Elegon, NovelistOfTheSky, Etiger1995, and Dowski all have stories set in the same OC/AU setting so our stories intertwine often. As of right now Elegon, NovelistOfTheSky and Etiger1995 all have new stories that they are working on so go check those out! And for easy access for all the stories go to the Networks of Destiny community page. Anyway that's enough of my rambling, go read and be merry!

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An irritated sigh pierced the chilly late night air. The young woman it emanated from, folded her arms in an attempt to shield herself from the cold. She had been sitting on a weathered stone bench in the middle of a quiet grotto for quite some time now, just waiting. She wasn't exactly dressed for any sort of cold as evident from her thin black zip-up hoodie over a short-sleeved t-shirt, dark blue skinny jeans and high-top canvas sneakers; definitely not the type of apparel you would want to wear in the middle of the night during early Spring.

Her irritation grew as she took out her cell phone the check the time: 2:23 AM. Almost a half hour she had been out there waiting for him to show up, and he was the one that wanted to meet with her! Why he couldn't just meet at her at her apartment like a normal person was beyond her. Then again there was nothing really normal about that guy. With another sigh, she wandered over to a small pond and squatted down by the water's edge gazing out over the glassy like surface she began absentmindedly skipping stones across the water.

Despite her stones disturbing the stillness of the pond, the moon reflected off the water's surface like a mirror beautifully, illuminating the grotto in its pale silvery light. If only it was warmer, the woman would not have minded being out there for so long in fact she may have had enjoyed it; the tranquility of the nature made garden was relaxing to her. She made a note to remember how to get back to this forest oasis, maybe she would come back sometime that week for a picnic or a nap luckily it wasn't too far from her home.

Her thoughts halted as a slight rustling somewhere behind her caught her attention. Cautiously rising to her feet, she turned to pinpoint the origin of the noise. Her whole body tensed as she heard the rustling again, louder this time and this time several feet to her right moving quickly through the brush towards the clearing; whatever it was it was going to be on top of her in seconds. In seemingly one split second and a flash of light, a blonde haired man wearing a plain white collared shirt and jeans emerged from the shadowed woods surrounding the grotto however he was frozen in place by a sleek ebony katana blade to his throat.

"Yeesh, Leya I know I'm late but you don't have to take my head off for it!" The man's voice yelled in faux fear. Leya groaned in slight annoyance after recognizing the man and lowered her sword, willing it to dissipate into a cloud of pixels.

"This isn't a battlefield so you don't have to worry about danger out here but I have got to admit that you have gotten remarkably fast with that thing." He added clearly impressed.

"Alex Dowski! You freaking scared me, you jerk!" Leya shouted back with a playful undertone in her voice. Alex finally showing up and the compliment quelled her irritation enough for her to be back in a relatively good mood.

"I'm cold, tired, and on edge 'cause _somebody_ decided call a meeting in the middle of the woods at night, decided to take their sweet ass time getting here and then thought the coming out of the bushes like a creep instead of taking the path was a good idea!" Leya was annoyed but nowhere near enough for her to be actually mad at Alex. Out of her four closest friends, Alex seemed to know how push her buttons without truly annoying her.

"Oof...first and last name?" Alex visibly cringed. "My bad, I lost track of time while I was running some maintenance tests. Running a digital city isn't all fun and games, you know. Well...sometimes it is." Leya rolled her eyes as Alex chuckled.

"But that's beside the point, I did have a reason for asking you out here."

"Does that reason include an explanation as to why you couldn't just come to my house and tell me or why it had to be in the middle of the night?" Leya asked genuinely concerned but still annoyed putting her hands on her hips. If it was a private matter it wasn't like many people knew where she lived; only ones that knew were her close friends and her dad.

Alex shook his head. "Too risky, I didn't want the possibility of the others finding out just yet...considering this matter involves that little stunt you pulled a few years ago." Alex added with a smug look on his face.

Leya chuckled sheepishly. "Oh that…You aren't still mad at me for that are you?"

"No of course not!" Sarcasm coated his voice, "It's not like you _died_ and I had to bring you back without the others, Gennai, or even the most of the sovereigns finding out about it or anything!"

"Hey! I wasn't... technically dead… Just like…comatose…?" She couldn't bring herself to believe her own lie. Four years ago -a year before the dreadful siege of Odaiba-, Leya had faced down the largest threat that either worlds had seen in ages. A Digimon with so much power he was practically a god -Omega Strikemon- in a war that cost many a Digidestined their lives. After one battle she was in took a horrible turn, Leya had took it upon herself to seal away the evil being for everyone's sakes. However, instead of a permanent seal like she had hoped, her life force alone could only sustain it for a year. Thankfully, it was just enough time for her friends and the remaining Digidestined forces to regroup, retaliate and prepare for the final battle against Omega Strikemon. With the help of her digital partner, Gilamon, Alex had managed to revive Leya within a few days after the seal had broken with no one besides the Digimon sovereign who gave Leya the power of her crest, Baihumon, finding out the truth.

"Anyway," Alex folded his arms, immediately sounding serious, "I need to check on your scar." That caused suspicion to rise in Leya.

"And this couldn't wait until next month when I'm _supposed_ to get it?"

"No...It's just some health concerns that I've noticed could pop up before then."

"Five years you've been my Digi-Doc and you've never sounded that serious over any of my check-ups before...even the very first ones" Leya locked eyes with Alex, trying to gauge just how bad things might be for this surprise check-up. His snickering did well to mask it though.

"You know I hate that nickname..."

"And I hate surprise check-ups so I think we are even." Alex simply rolled his eyes and took out a smartphone looking device from his pocket. After a minute or two of him typing something on the screen, he held it up towards the clearing. Instantly, the device emitted a bright blue light and a circular portal appeared in front of the two causing Leya's jaw to drop. On the other side of it was a futuristic lab with dozens of monitors lining one of the walls, a variety of complicated looking machinery on the other and an armor less snow white Flamedramon with white wings folded behind him wearing dark blue combat pants was lounging on a sofa in a corner.

"Th-That's your lab...in the Digital World...!" Leya exclaimed dumbfounded.

"How did you do that?!" Alex smirked and walked through the wormhole. Leya followed, feeling a sudden rush of warm air as she passed the portal. Sure enough, she was no longer in the forest grotto but in Alex's lab

"It's just a little pet project I've been working on over the years. I should be able to update all of our Digivices to do it real soon. It's going to be immensely helpful to us, considering the amount of missions Gennai sends us on compared to all the other Digidestined in the world." Leya gave a sound of approval as she made her way over to the sleeping Digimon on the couch. Quietly, she stood where his head rested on the couch arm and with a marker she had picked up nearby, doodled a tiny handlebar mustache under his nose and a monocle on one of his eyes. Stifling her laughter after admiring her work, Leya went over to the medical table that just looked like an oversized gurney that Alex rolled out from somewhere and hopped on top of it. Alex had went over to a short metal desk and took out a small tablet from one of the drawers then walked over to the monitor wall. Using the tablet like a wireless keyboard, he typed in some commands he started bringing up Leya's medical records and information concerning her past check-ups.

Alex's Digi-portal was ingenious, Leya thought. Having that installed on their Digivices would significantly cut down on travel time back and forth the Real and Digital worlds. Running around looking for an internet-enabled computer that no one was using in a time sensitive situation was cumbersome to say the least. While she did have high levels of respect towards the digital being, she often found it unfair that Gennai had their group of five constantly on assignment when there was thousands of able bodied Digidestined around the world. There was actually a point in time where she herself was left behind often as the missions tended to be high-risk or large scale battles -rather than her forte of reconnaissance- calling on the help of the more battle-worn Digidestined: Alex, Trace Hinata, Elegon Laze, and Will Murphy. It wasn't until recently that Leya really started taking on larger scale missions whether solo or leading other Digidestined.

A sudden wave of dread and anger washed over Leya when she thought about the Irish Digidestined, Will Murphy. Will had fallen out of contact with everyone six months ago. While it wasn't abnormal for him to venture off on his own weeks or even months at a time, Will had always left a message or checked in with someone at least once. For all anyone knew, Will could have gotten lost somewhere in a new part of the Digital World as it is constantly expanding as technology advances or had been dead in a ditch somewhere for who knows how long but Leya refused to assume the worse. She was as worried as she was pissed off with Will for going M.I.A and couldn't decide whether she would hug or punch him when he finally showed back up.

"Hey, I'm ready." Alex's voice pulled Leya out of her thoughts. She nodded took off her hoodie and shirt leaving her only black sports bra on. She then tied up her hair with a band she had in her pocket so her long brown hair didn't cover her back. Instinctively she crossed her arms over her breasts and groaned as slight blush formed on her face. Five years and she still got embarrassed when she had to get her scar checked. It wasn't like Alex ever had ill intentions nor would he ever; he was gay and one of her best friends so it wasn't like he was going to take advantage of her. She took a deep breath and relaxed. Noticing she was calmer, Alex gently put a hand on her shoulder and with his other he took a small flashlight and shined the like on the small of her back. The light shone on her seemingly scar-less back, until the skin that was under the light began to sink in on itself like a deflated ball. Where there was once flawless skin there was now a deep and ugly scar from the top of her waist to the middle of her back along her spine. Alex scanned the length of the scar, so far nothing seemed out of the ordinary; it was healing nicely and in several places Leya's actual skin had started to form over it. At this rate there were only a few more months for Leya to wear the camouflaging bandage left. Just as he was about to turn off the flashlight something caught Alex's eye. A vein that damaged from the scar was discolored; instead of the normal blueish-green color of a vein this one was a sickly purplish color.

Alex's brow furrowed. This was beyond concerning. If what he had been worried about was happening to Leya, and with what was going on in the Digital World now beginning to affect her scar, she was in serious danger. He then examined her abdominal area the same way, however there were no signs of any discolored veins. With a sigh, he turned off the flashlight and almost instantly the 'skin' had reformed over Leya's scar.

"Alright I'm done." Alex typed his findings on the tablet as Leya put her shirt and hoodie back on. Alex put on a smile to hide his concern.

"Your scar is healing up faster than I thought, you should be able to take off the bandage in a few months or so." Leya nodded, a lot less enthusiastic than he anticipated.

"Uh-huh…So what's the bad news?" Alex was thrown off by the suddenness of her question. He was sure that he didn't give any sort of body language away to tip her off.

"W-what makes you say that?" Leya stared at him with a knowing gaze.

"I noticed you had slightly squeezed my shoulder while you were eyeing my scar. It was so subtle that if I was paying attention to something I would not have noticed at all. Then you tried to hide the fact you found something wrong with the good news first. Honestly, I don't think you would've told me what you found at all." Alex swore under his breath. Leya's intuition was spot on and her ability to read people was astonishing. Everything she had pointed out was right.

"Yeah you're right. There is some bad news." Alex admitted. As much as he didn't want to admit it, lying to Leya would be ten times worse and he didn't want to add another lie on top of the big one he had already told her. At least with this truth she could do something about it and not blame herself for what happened.

"There's this weird virus appearing around the Digital World. At first it only infected Digimon altering their code, their appearance you know minor stuff. But then it started mutating…the rate of the infection grew and the effects of it were direr. The virus started to cause drastic changes in behavior to those infected, mainly rises in aggression are apparent but we found that the corruption was especially devastating to Digimon with crest-bearing partners. The virus could cause the whole crest to become corrupted thereby severing the link between Digimon and Digidestined." Leya could understand what the severity of the virus meant to her and Gilamon separately but that still didn't explain why that was related to her scar.

"Wait hang on! You said this was a virus affecting Digimon, so what does that have to do with _me_?" Alex's face grew dark and he refused to make eye contact with her.

"Alex?"

"Because of the extent of your injuries I had to make some parts of you digital like me so you could live normally…So you aren't a completely digital being like me or Gennai but you aren't completely human either… " Alex's eyes finally met with Leya's, he could see the panic beginning to well up inside her as she realized what he was getting at. He didn't need to say it out loud for her to know what was wrong.

 _You are infected. You, your partner, and you crest are going to be corrupted._

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OC Form-

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Description(apparel, build etc.):

Background:

Personality:

Partner(Rookie to Mega):

Partner's personality:

Extra Notes on Either:


	2. Chapter 2

The words echoed in her mind. _Infected…Corrupted…_ Her body wouldn't stop shaking. Somehow, she had got infected with a virus that altered Digimon so much that they were practically shadows of themselves. Leya couldn't comprehend what she had just been told to her it didn't make sense; she was a human that got infected with a digital virus, one that would completely turn her into the polar opposite of herself. A cold, malicious, hostile woman that could attack people she once saw as her friends. Would she be consciously aware of what she was doing and not care or would it be like watching herself in third person with no control of her actions? What happened if she _killed_ someone?

 _No…I don't want that…_

Leya began to feel wave after wave of fear and her stomach felt as though it was caving in on itself. She could hear her heart pounding so loudly she thought it would come out of her chest. She couldn't control her breathing, the harder she fought for control the less control she actually had. Her chest hurt as though she was having a heart attack. She couldn't calm down, why couldn't she calm down?

 _Not again…I can't...please help…_

Leya could see Alex attempting to calm her down but she couldn't hear a word out of his mouth all she could hear was the sounds of her own ragged breathing. Behind him his partner, NeoFlamedramon watched on concern clearly on his doodled face while Alex's face was panicked, neither of them knew what to do. Tears began to fall from Leya's eyes clouding her vision and her breathing became more frantic. Her body started to hurt, what she could describe as the feeling from sleeping on your arm all night engulfed her body like a flame; it felt as though she was slowly drowning as air occasionally tried to fill her lungs normally. She shut her eyes, wishing for it all to end. She didn't want to feel like this anymore, she didn't want to be sick, she just wanted to wake up in her bed hoping this was all just a dream.

 _Someone…please…help me…!_

Leya felt a new pair of hands on her thighs, they felt a lot heavier than Alex's and she could tell they were gloved. She opened her eyes to meet the gaze of a pair of emerald green eyes underneath a samurai helmet as black as a shadow and a trim as golden as the sun. Leya hiccupped, allowing air into her lungs for longer than a second for just a moment before her hyperventilating started up again. The warrior's eyes never left hers as his hands cupped her face gently. Without saying a word, the warrior told her to focus on them. The never ending gaze managed to keep Leya's mind distracted enough to where her body slowly began to regulate its breathing. Though she couldn't see his mouth due to a face mask, Leya could tell from his eyes that the samurai was smiling at her calming down. Leya wrapped her arms around him who gladly returned the hug.

"Th-thank you, K-Komodo-mon." Leya managed to say through hiccups. Komodomon chuckled softly and gave her a light squeeze.

"No need, you know I'll always be there for you Leya. We're partners after all." Leya smiled and wiped away her remaining tear with the sleeve of her hoodie.

"How...how did know I was here?" Leya asked, she suddenly felt exhausted and expressed it with a yawn. Noticing this, Komodomon carried Leya to the couch and lied her down on it.

"I had Neo get him using a portal. Luckily, Komodo was already in the Digital World so tracking him was a lot quicker than if he was in the Real World." Alex answered. He still seem worried about Leya but was visibly a lot more relaxed than he did earlier though there was still clearly something bothering him.

"I don't mean to pry but… what was that Leya?" Caution etched his voice. He didn't want to open a can of worms that didn't need to be opened while she was so vulnerable.

"An anxiety attack." Leya had stated it so bluntly and calmly it caught Alex off guard.

"R-really? Pardon me for saying this but, you don't exactly seem like the type of person that would get anxiety attacks." In response, Alex received a light punch to his arm.

"I've had them before, but the majority of them where during the months after my mom died and others were when I got lost when I was little." Leya explained, grinning at Alex rubbing his arm whether in real or exaggerated pain.

"Besides, you don't have to feel weird about asking. In my eyes you asking just means you care enough to ask." Leya sighed and lifted herself off the couch. Laying around didn't feel right while anxiety still clung to her, she knew if she was idle for too long she could have another attack. Luckily she knew exactly how to get her mind at ease and it made her giddy just thinking about it.

"Komodomon! I'm still feeling anxious so we have to do the thing!" She shouted surprisingly thrilled. If there was one thing she was good at it was bouncing back into a good mood. "A quick workout with each other what do you say?!" Komodomon chuckled and gave a grunt of approval warranting a squeal of excitement.

"Wait what do you mean by 'workout'?" Alex questioned, Leya's grew wider.

"A fight!" Alex and NeoFlamedramon seemed lost all together. Leya had just had a major breakdown and now she was ecstatic for a sparring match against her powerful digital partner.

Leya and Komodomon exited the lab to a large courtyard in front of the building. The field was open and free of any obstructions as the sun shone brightly warming the earth under it accompanied by a cooling breeze. Leya threw off her hoodie and her shirt leaving her in a white tank top then clasped her Digivice –a dark green smartphone looking device with a D inscribed on the back- onto a holder on her belt loop.

Komodomon clapped his hands together and a mini whirlwind formed around him. When it died down, his armor had disappeared leaving him in a royal blue hakama with his tail coming out from underneath it. His helmet was removed as well allowing a torrent of spiky jet black hair to flow down his back yet his face mask remained though without the bulkiness of the rest of his armor it appeared more like a plated muzzle. His sheathed swords still hung at his side by a ruby sash. The two combatants then met in the center of the courtyard.

"Ready Komodo?" Leya dropped into a ready stance, the dragon warrior did the same. Leya noticed his eyes held a glint of excitement. A chill ran up her spine as her adrenaline started pumping.

"Alex mind counting us down?" Leya called out not taking her eyes off her opponent.

"Are you guys seriously about to fight?!" This didn't make any sense to Alex. Leya always seemed the most grounded out of their group. Seeing her like this was totally out of character. She only strengthened his assumption by affirming his question.

"There's no way you can fight him Leya, he's a Digimon, a Mega-level one at that!" Leya burst out laughing.

"You haven't seen me fight before have you? Well damn…guess I have to show you what I can do then!" With that the two combatants rushed at each other.

Komodomon threw the first punch. Leya ducked under his arm feeling her hair ruffle with the force of it. She had to move fast if she was going to avoid his follow up. Leya dropped to the ground and rolled under him between his legs. In one swift motion, she used her momentum to twist herself around throwing a kick to Komodomon's ribs.

The blow only glanced off his ribcage not enough power to do any significate damage but enough to sting for a bit. He winced but instead of a grunt of pain like she had expected, Komodomon let out a snort of amusement. Confusion quickly turned to realization as Leya felt the dragon warrior's tail wrap around her ankle and launch her high in the air.

"I thought we agreed no tail flinging! She screamed as she took flight her body instinctively flailing in the air. Komodomon laughed in response as he watched her fall. He caught her in his arms before she plummeted into the ground.

"Sorry I couldn't resist." He said between snickers. Leya would had rolled her eyes as he put her down but instead had to quick adjust herself for a sudden landing midair as Komodomon spun around and tossed her clear across the yard. Twisting her body she positioned her body for her to cartwheel into a back flip and nearly stuck the landing slightly losing her footing but instead of stumbling she used her momentum to charge forward towards Komodomon.

Her hand swiped down the screen of her Digivice. It shone a bright white light and from it emerged the handle and hilt of her katana. She lifted the sword out of the light as though its sheath was there on her hip. With a roar she savagely swung her sword at the dragon samurai. The air vibrated as their swords collided. The speed of which the two attacked and blocked back and forth was on par if not faster than Olympic fencers. One minute into their exchange by some means, both Leya and Komodomon managed to disarm each other; Komodomon's sword lodged itself into the dirt several years away as Leya dissipated into pixels. Their eyes locked for just a moment before they jumped back from each other both starting to show signs of fatigue.

Alex couldn't believe the ferocity of the battle that was taking fold in front of him between human and Digimon. He would've thought it was possible if Leya had X-Digivolved with Komodomon allowing her to become a human-Digimon hybrid but had she lost that ability when he had to revive her. How she was keeping pace with her partner was beyond him.

Though tired Komodomon was still a lot faster than his partner. Leya just barely moved out of the way of a surprise roundhouse punch after Komodomon dashed towards her. She bent backward and felt his knuckles swish past her nose. Cursing under her breath, Leya managed to catch herself with one hand and vaulted herself backwards landing on her feet a few yards away. However, Komodomon was already on her, his fist connecting with her stomach in time with Alex's and Neo's cries of alarm to fill the air. Leya staggered away, fighting to get her air back. For a moment, she looked like she would puke, but she managed to straighten up.

"Nice punch…" She wheezed. Komodomon jogged up to her, concern in his eyes.

"I didn't hit you too hard did I?" Leya flashed him a toothy grin.

"Nah…I'm fine…besides you know not to let your guard down!" Komodomon staggered backwards from an uppercut to his jaw from his partner. He recovered quickly. He stepped back and swung at her. She shrugged her shoulder up and took the punch on it. She returned the blow with one in the middle of his chest. It definitely did some damage as Komodomon staggered again holding his chest.

"I…I think we're even Leya…" He coughed collapsing to the ground. Leya sauntered over to him and fell into his lap. Her adrenaline started waning and she could feel her body succumbing to exhaustion. She was so tired she didn't even notice Alex and NeoFlamedramon was standing over them. The looks on their faces was that of complete bewilderment. If she wasn't so tired she would've jumped at the opportunity to snap a picture of them.

"Wh-Wha…How..?" Alex couldn't get the words out of his mouth while Neo appeared speechless altogether. Leya chuckled softly.

"I may be small but I'm not weak in anyway." She gave a quick yawn. "With Will gone… I decided to pick up the slack with some of the missions that he usually did." Just the thought of the extra workload drained her even more.

"There were a lot of times when me and Komodo got separated during them so I needed to know how to defend myself against not only Dark Digidestined but their Digimon too until he could get there to back me up."

Alex was completely awestruck by what she said. Ever since he met her, Leya seemed like the sweet delicate type to him. From taking the low combat recon missions to being the team's medic to her motherly tendencies when trying to keep the team in line; Leya just didn't give the 'aggressive fighter' vibe that he, Trace, Will and Elegon gave off. He felt a suddened pang of guilt. He had underestimated her for the entirety of their friendship. Alex sighed.

"Hey Leya I've just got to say that was amazing and-"Alex stopped then smiled. Leya and Komodomon had fallen asleep on each other.

He lifted Leya on to his back wrapping her arms around his neck and held her legs while Neo did the same for Komodomon. Once inside, Alex and Neo put the sleeping duo in the lab's barracks and once they were settled left the room.

"That was unreal." NeoFlamedramon stated exactly how Alex felt. Leya was much stronger than he ever imagined it was almost terrifying. That thought lingered in his mind long than he had liked. If she was strong now…how much stronger would she be if she got corrupted?

"Neo can you go get some things from Gennai for me regarding the virus? I'm going to stay here and go over my findings." He raised an eyebrow in interest but nodded in agreement. Alex handed him a list from of the metal desk.

"I'm gonna need all the help I can get for this one…" NeoFlamedramon gave a curt nod in agreement and turned to leave.

"Hey before you go-" Alex stopped him suddenly in a small fit of laughter. "Please wash that mess off your face!"


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry about the lull in uploads. I'm preparing for vacation so I'm trying to stockpile a bunch of chapters so I can just upload at a semi regular interval so bare with me. Anyway read! And remember, the other NoD writers (NovelistoftheSky, Elegon, and Etiger1995) all have stories in the same universe so read their stuff too!

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Leya opened her eyes to find herself standing in complete darkness. An endless void sprawled around her and the silence was so deafening she could barely hear her own breathing. Where was she? Last thing she could remember was that she had been talking to Alex and she ended up passing out on Komodomon. This didn't make any sense to her.

With no real direction to go, Leya wandered around the darkness looking for...anything. As she walked she felt the minutes turn to hours or...was it just seconds to minutes? She had no real sense of time and she wasn't even sure if she making any progress as she couldn't feel anything under her feet.

She stopped. She wasn't sure but she thought she heard voices. Leya closed her eyes and concentrated. It was faint or maybe just soft? She couldn't make out what the voices were saying if they even were saying anything at all. She listened harder trying to make out the words the voices were saying. Then she heard it.

The sudden torrent of screams caused Leya to collapse to her knees covering her ears, her own screams mingling in with that of the voices. Thousands of people's anguish and pain filled her head. Leya tried for naught to ignore their cries, every attempt she made was met with another devastating wave of screams.

"What do you want?! I don't understand what you want from me!" Leya screamed back in desperation. As if her question deterred the voices, they all stopped. Everything had became quiet once again except for a single voice's tiny murmur.

" _...ll..."_ It muttered.

"What?"

" _...ou...ill...troy...fect...rupt..."_ Still the words came out no more than a mutter. Leya groaned, frustration clearly on her face.

"First you guys blow out my eardrums, now you won't speak up...Ugh...Just tell me what you want already!" She shouted into the abyss her voice echoing off the darkness. The whispering stopped leaving only the remnants of her echoes. Moments passed, then suddenly a low rumbling began shaking the area all around her; even the ground she once couldn't feel under her vibrated. Then just as quickly it started, it stopped.

A chill went down Leya's spine as her core went cold. It was as though someone had put two blocks of ice on her chest and back. She looked down and in horror attempted to scream but found her voice was gone. Protruding out of her chest was some sort of black liquid slightly wiggling its small but numerous needle-like appendages. Whatever it was, it was growing and fast. Leya clawed desperately at it trying to get it off of her. Weirdly enough, it didn't give any resistance as she attempted to grab it. After getting a firm grip on the gelatinous blob, she ripped it off her chest and the goop give a resounding plop upon hitting the ground.

It quivered and stretched upward until the top of the blob was eye level to Leya. From there it expanded and morphed, until it was practically the silhouette of a person. Leya took a step back; something about that thing unnerved her immensely. The black goo person cocked its head to the side like a puppy, warranting another chill down Leya's spine. The goo having the body of a person but no face like a living mannequin was freaking her out. As if sensing her discomfort, the head of the blob shivered and contorted into a face. The face that appeared however, turned her blood cold.

" _What's wrong, Leya? You wanted me to have a face and I chose one!"_ The blob's voice was so laid back and playful -so out of place- it unnerved Leya even more. The face it had chosen was that of a young man she knew very well. His short brown hair sat chaotically on his head while his facial hair was trimmed to a neat stubble. But something was off...his eyes were supposed to be a weird but cool dark green and gray but these were completely black like the sludge that made up its body and his mouth seemed stuck in a permanent sneer.

"Why...why the hell do you have _his_ face?!" Leya demanded.

" _Why? There is no why! I just thought you'd like to see a familiar face!"_ He burst out into a fit of high-pitched laughter. He walked forward and lifted Leya's chin up so that her eyes met with his, a sly grin on his face.

" _I just wanted to make you feel more comfortable and nurture your delusions about ol' Will-y boy. As one friend to another. I mean let's face it he's been gone what...six months going on seven now without even so much as a goodbye? He's either dead or doesn't care about you anymore."_ Leya reared her head back in disgust while quickly wiping away the residue of slime off her chin, gagging at the horrendous smell that wafted off of his body.

"Just shut up! I know Will is alive!" Leya retorted, clenching her fist. He _had_ to be alive. Will was one of the strongest people she had ever met. He had faced down a Digital god and defeated him for god sakes! There was no way he could be...

" _You poor poor deluded girl, that must be some fantasy world you live in! A world where the great William Murphy didn't abandoned all his friends and got himself killed somewhere!"_ The doppelganger cackled.

"I said..SHUT UP!" Leya threw her fist as hard as she could at the blob man's head. He didn't attempt to move out of the way but only smiled as he caught Leya's fist in his hand, just inches from his face. His hand then stretched and wrapped around her fist, trapping it in a small ball of sludge.

" _Come on now Leya..."_ His voice became deeper with every word until it had the unforgettable Irish accent Leya had grown accustom to, " _You know you could never beat me."_ Using her free hand, she tried to tear the sludge off her hand only for it to get stuck like animal in a tar pit. The doppelganger snickered as Leya struggled to release herself from his grip and with a slight flick of his wrist, willed several streams of sludge to travel down her arms, around her legs and up her neck to cover her mouth ensnaring and gagging her in a web of ooze.

" _You know with me gone...Elegon back home, Alex typically doing nothing and Trace doing god knows what nowadays, you became top dog. I mean look at what you've accomplished! You've taken out groups of sovereign usurpers, saved several small settlements around the Digital World and established the guard for each one, and you even infiltrated a Digital World terrorist cell and sabotaged all their plans! Mighty impressive, I must admit._ Leya's eyes widened in shock. Not only did this thing know about her friends but he knew about her missions. While it was no secret she took part of the first two missions as she was usually leading two to three teams at a time, the infiltration mission was given to her personally by Azulongmon for her and her alone and even then she was only supposed to collect information; sabotaging the terrorists' plans was an idea she had come up with on the fly. There was no way anyone should know about that, so how did he?

" _I have my sources."_ He said, answering Leya's question very vaguely. " _And that's not all I know. You see, the sovereigns aren't as all seeing or all knowing as they want you believe are. If someone like me managed to find out so much 'confidential' information right under their noses, it shows just how pathetic they are. But soon that won't be a problem."_

Without warning, the area of Leya's scar erupted in continuous waves of pain her screams muffled by the slime gag. Her mind went blank as her body instinctively twisted and jerked in pain, desperately trying to get away from the source of her agony, in vain however. Her whole body was seizing as she experienced the same pain that killed her all those years ago. Her eyes met with that of her captor, who no longer had Will's face nor his voice but his original unnaturally laid back voice and had a simple white mask on.

" _Soon, the sovereign's' reign will come to an end and a new world order will commence! And you want to know the best part?"_ A devilish grin adorned his face as he leaned in close to Leya's face. The world around her seemed to stutter as he approached her; it was as though her brain had skipped or didn't register a few seconds had passed. Whatever it was, Leya realized she was no longer looking at the sludge man, but at him _and_ herself. Her body had stopped seizing even though she could still feel the phantom pains of whatever her captor had did to her and her eyes had this blank look in them and strangely enough, her restraints had disappeared.

" _You're gonna be the catalyst to it all! You will destroy, infect and corrupt every living thing in the Digital World until there is nothing left!"_ Leya screamed and swore at the man with all her heart but her body did nothing, her face only darkened. Then slowly, a small smirk grew on her face, her eyes still vacant.

"...Good...Sounds like fun..." Leya watched in horror as her own lips formed those words. What was she saying... w _hy_ was she saying this? She had devoted her life to _protecting_ the Digital World and now she was standing here agreeing to corrupt it?

 _Corrupt_... Leya's face dropped as realization hit her like a ton of bricks. The masked figure howled in delight, clapping his hands together like a small child.

" _Excellent! Now the real fun begins!"_ He turned to face Leya, not her body in front of him but to her apparition and grabbed her wrist, sending several shocks up her arm. The pain felt a hundred times worse than the suffering she endured earlier so much so that her vision started fading.

" _This will be so much fun and I'm gonna guide you every step of the way. For now...we must part ways...but don't worry darling, I'll be keeping in touch..."_ The last thing Leya saw before she blacked out was his malicious smirk.

* * *

Leya's eyes shot open as she rocketed up from the bed she was laying in instinctively scanning the small room of beds she was in for danger. Her heart was racing at a thousand miles a second and her body refused to stop shaking, aching badly as though she had just got off the battlefield. There was something else was wrong; Leya could tell that something terrible had happened to her but for the life of her could not remember what. The only things that came to mind was that it had something to do with Will and her arm. She groaned from irritation, scratching her arm absentmindedly trying to retrace her steps in her head. She had a panic attack after Alex told her she was infected, sparred with Komodomon to calm down, talked to Alex for a bit before passing out and then...

Images of broken memories flashed in her mind. Most of it didn't make any sense, but one thing was clear to her: Will had something to do with it. If he did do something to her that meant he was somewhere nearby. Leya pushed herself out of the bed and walked across the barracks to a child-sized green humanoid lizard snoring quietly in a bed two times to large for him.

"Gilamon..." Leya whispered, shaking him slightly. The Digimon grumbled and mumbled something about hot dogs before sluggishly opening his eyes.

"...Leya...what's wrong...?" He asked, exhaustion clearly in his voice but also concern.

"Get up, we are leaving..." Leya went to grab a travel cloak from inside a case under Gilamon's bed. She frowned as it was slightly too big, trailing on the ground behind her. It would have to do, she didn't really feel like searching all the cases in the room.

"Leaving? Why?" Gilamon was fully awake now, standing up beside his bed. Leya paused for a moment. Her mind was already made, so why was she hesitant? She took a deep breath. She needed answers and she needed them now not only about what had happened to her but where he had been these past few months.

"We are going to go find Will."


	4. Chapter 4

The cool night wind whipping around Leya's face, tossing her hair every which way was a familiar and oddly relaxing sensation. She was currently atop Komodomon in his dragon mode, his plated jet black and gilded golden armor glistening in the moonlight as his thick leathery wings glided them through night sky. Yet it did little to nothing to ease her guilt about leaving Alex under the cover of darkness. She didn't have much of a choice though; Alex would've held her for another day or two -maybe three knowing him- diagnosing and testing her, more than enough time for Will's trail to go cold. Besides, she figured Alex would forgive her as long as she brought Will back.

"Leya, I know I agreed to help but do you have any idea where to start looking? We've been kinda flying in circles for a while now." Komodomon's voice was much deeper in his dragon mode than the one in his samurai but just as gentle. Leya sighed looking down over the rolling hills melding with small mountains passing underneath them. In truth, she had rushed out of Alex's lab without any true direction to go. Just a feeling that she had to start in the mountains and even that was super vague as there were hundreds of mountain ranges around the Digital World. To scour every last one would be a huge waste of time and effort; and even if she had the manpower to search each mountain range all at once, unless she was the one that found him, Will could easily escape from whichever team found him if he was staying away on purpose. He was an Elite like her but she knew Will would at least go easier on her more than anyone else; he called himself a 'gentleman' for it but Leya knew he was a big softy who wouldn't really want to hurt her.

"Let's land for now and rest. We can keep looking in the morning." Leya finally said with a sigh. There was no point in dragging things out right now and they both needed a good night's sleep. Komodomon descended and touched down on a relatively flat stretch of land. He crouched low for Leya to hop off of him without having to deal with the twelve foot drop off his back. Once off his back, Leya dropped to the ground in a huff, feeling oddly drained.

"You alright?" Komodomon asked, curling his body protectively around Leya's and draped his wing over her. She readjusted herself to where her head was using his forearm as a pillow and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Yeah...just sleepy...probably still tired from... our fight." She droned, barely keeping her eyes open. He said nothing in response but a soft purr-like growl emanated from his throat. A smile grew on Leya's face as her eyes drooped further and further until closing completely, falling into an easy and dreamless sleep. Her eyes fluttered opened again to bright sunlight after what had seemed like only a few minutes of shut-eye. She groaned in exhaustion and let out a loud yawn, rubbing her eyes.

"Gosh..I didn't think it was so close to morning already..." As her eyes adjusted to the light, Leya realized something was different. She wasn't curled up next to Komodomon anymore nor was she of the foot of the mountain. Instead, she was sitting on a high ledge somewhere within the mountain range with the sun just starting to peek over the horizon.

"What in the...?" Wherever she was, she was far enough from where she and Komodomon had been as she couldn't see the foothills at all. Leya turned on her Digivice and tapped one of the apps on the screen and after a moment a 3-D topographical map of the mountains she was in projected from the front camera. There were several small red blips on the map indicating the locations of other Digimon on the mountain. Also on the map were two identical icons, enclosed in white circle and larger than the rest, of what appeared to be a V over top of an upside down T with four small triangles between the cross sections of the overlapping shapes: the symbol of Leya's crest of Compassion. The larger of the two was on the northeastern side of the mountain while the other was almost directly south of the other. Somehow she managed to climb two and a half miles up the mountain in the dark without waking up Komodomon at all. Leya sighed heavily, she was not looking forward to hiking down the mountain to meet up with Komodomon.

"How and why the hell did I end up walking so far way anyway?" She muttered under her breath, frowning. She hadn't slept walked ever before in her life and now she had hiked up a mountain just for the hell of it. An uneasy feeling crept up Leya's spine as she remembered what Alex had said about how the virus affected Digimon. She was a human with digital parts so was her sleepwalking one of the effects indicating the start of her corruption?

Leya groaned, putting the thought aside for now; it was too early in the morning for her to worry about that, she had a more pressing issue to deal with at the moment. She was about to close out the map when something caught her eye: two new blips appeared little ways behind hers. It was definitely peculiar as the blips had the same enclosed white circle that is used to show crest users and their Digimon but there was no crest showing within it, just a bunch of static. Suspicion rose in Leya as fiddled with the settings of the map and once few seconds passed, her intuition was confirmed: The 3-D wire frame view of the map changed to a satellite view of the immediate area. From that, Leya could see two figures seemingly hiding in the thin mountain shrubbery; not very well Leya might add. The Digimon appeared to be crouching in the brush and looked like a giant blue Akita Inu with a red scarf flowing slightly in the wind wearing huge red boxing gloves over its paws with long claws protruding out from them: a Gaogamon. On top of the Gaogamon's back was some guy with blonde hair in a stereotypical albeit stylish rockstar haircut that kind of reminded her of Matt from a few years ago and from what she could see, the guy was wearing a blue leather jacket with a gold star on the back with black jeans and red and white skate shoes. Leya wasn't sure if these guys were careless or just stupid; their positioning was way too conspicuous for them to be any sort of reconnaissance team or part of an ambush and even if they were to attack her it was just a Champion and its partner, she sure she could hold them off if not beat them. She just needed to make sure she was actually their target first. Leya shut off the map and holstered her Digivice and without pausing took off in a light jog down a gentle slope of the mountain. She barely got fifteen feet away before she heard a quick rustling from the shrubbery and a steady but loud thumping of Gaogamon's paws against the ground. Leya couldn't stop herself from laughing; as one of the top ranked Digidestined for recon, their tailing skills were below rookie level.

"Might as well have some fun with them." She sped up, breaking into a full run. Gaogamon was still on her tail keeping a consistent distance between them; surely they should've figured they had been made by now. If they continued to follow her like this even after she got to Komodomon they could very well give her position away to Will if she ever got close to him. She felt her face fall into a frown; she couldn't let them get in her way. No one would get in her way. The land started to even out until it essentially turned into rocky plains with a steep cliff face on one side and an equally steep cliff side with no cover in sight. Leya made an about face turn and mid-turn she swiped down the screen of her Digivice summoning her sword. The ebony blade appeared differently than usual though; instead of the white light she had been accustomed to, a dull grey almost silver light appeared followed by a trail of grey pixels as she pulled it out. Leya thought little of it though as her stalkers had caught up to her. She could see the Digidestined completely now and his appearance surprised her. He was pretty well built for such a scrawny looking guy and in addition to the apparel she had already noticed from the satellite feed, he was also wearing a red polo shirt and a black studded belt but the shocking bit about him was his eyes: they were a dull blue that matched the shadows the bags under his eyes casted. Whatever this guy had been through must had been tough on him. Part of her felt sorry for him but another part had an increasing irritation towards him.

"Who are you, why are you following me and what do you want?!" Leya demanded pointing her sword at him. The young man hopped off the back of his partner. He said nothing but had a scowl on his face that said he didn't care much for Leya. She didn't mind though, right now for some reason him looking at her that way was really pissing her off.

"Are you Leya Hayato?" He asked bluntly ignoring Leya's questions, annoying her even more.

"Typically when a person asks a question the polite thing to do is to answer back not ask another question." Leya replied, her frustration clearly showing.

"For instance, to answer your question...yes I am Leya. Now what about-" She was cut off by a sudden vortex of wind. She managed to block the brunt of the attack with her sword but it still did some damage to her, earning her a few light scratches on her arms and face and tearing a few holes into her cloak.

"Seriously?! You need your partner to score a cheap shot like that on a girl while she's talking?!" Leya's head was practically throbbing in rage yet her mind couldn't register why this guy was getting under her skin so fast when even her friends jokingly say that it takes years for her to get angry at anyone.

"I know enough about you to know that you're dangerous enough without your partner." The stranger spat back. Based off the look on his face he was getting as irritated as Leya was.

"And I also know you were the last person to see Will, so where is he?!" He bellowed as he rushed Leya. Leya stuck her sword in the ground and brought her arms up just in time to block a punch by her assailant; she wasn't about to fight an unarmed man with a sword no matter how angry she was. She pushed him away from her before launching herself at him, throwing a punch at his face and knocking him to the ground. Gaogamon softly growled defensively, his fur bristling as a warning but didn't step in. His partner wiped the trail of blood from his mouth and glared at Leya. He tried to get up but she didn't give him the chance to as she straddled over him, pinning him to the ground and grabbing him by the collar. She then reared her head back as far as she could before she collided it with his, the resounding thud echoed in her head and her vision blurred for a few seconds before everything calmed down. Even Leya's sudden aggression had dissipated however the headbutt had knocked out the man under her.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" She apologized frantically to the unconscious body. Leya put her ear to the man's chest listening carefully for a heartbeat. Thankfully, she heard a quiet one and let out a sigh of relief; it wasn't too faint for him to be in critical condition but he was definitely going to need some rest before he was one hundred percent. Gaogamon padded up to her. His fur was still bristled but he seem cautiously friendly for now.

"So are you like normal now?" He asked. Leya was surprised by this Gaogamon's voice; most Gaogamon she had met had guff or gravelly voices but this one had a fairly high pitched and upbeat voice.

"Yeah sorry about that. I really don't know what got over me." She nodded in response and Gaogamon got this big goofy smile on his face. Though she had a nagging feeling in the back of her head that she knew exactly why she acted the way she did.

"That's awesome! Oh sorry about attacking you earlier, we needed to make sure we had the right Leya this time. You wouldn't believe how many girls we ran into that pretended to be you just cause you're practically a Digidestined celebrity!"

"Really? Huh... I never knew." Leya wasn't sure if she should be flattered or disturbed by her now apparent fanbase. She chuckled softly, it was just another thing to worry about later.

"Gaogamon, can you help me get your partner back to my camp? It's a little ways down the mountain, maybe fifteen minutes. Komodomon and I can treat him there." Leya asked she couldn't allow herself to just leave him there. Gaogamon nodded excitedly.

"Of course! Now I definitely know you're the real Leya, you're the only known Digidestined with a Komodomon as a partner." Gaogamon crouched down to allow Leya to put the young man on his back and for Leya to get on to make sure he didn't fall off.

"Oh and by the way this is Lucas, Lucas Star." He introduced the unconscious boy on his back before taking off further down the mountain. Leya brow furrowed in thought as she tried to remember why that name sounded familiar and then her eyes widened in realization: she had heard that name before from Will ages ago. This guy, Lucas, was once a part of Will's original team, the team of Digidestined hand picked by Gennai and tasked with protecting the Odaiba chosen: the Guardians. He was one of the few people that knew Will before she and her other friends met him. If Lucas was looking for Will too then something must had happen to him. That or something big was brewing and they were going to need his help. Either way, Leya needed to find him before it was too late.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the delay, had some things to deal with but I should have a regular upload schedule now (hopefully) so enjoy!

* * *

Lucas's head was killing him. If he had ever had to guess what a hangover felt like, this was ten times more unbearable and one hell of a deterrent to never drink. He groggily pried his eyes open to see soft white clouds rolling lazily across the light blue sky, the sun occasionally hiding behind the passing clouds he could faintly hear the rustling leaves of distant treetops. The last Lucas could recall, it was early morning and he was further up the mountain when he confronted Leya but it was definitely close to mid-day now and based off the sound of leaves he was closer to the foot of the mountain. He noticed he was lying on a surprisingly soft bed roll, his head resting on an equally soft pillow; definitely too soft to be his, so who's was it? Lucas groaned, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake up further. When his eyes opened once more, he sat up and almost jumped in surprise as he found himself face to face with the large blue muzzle of his partner.

"Heya Lucas! 'Bout time you woke up!" Lucas rolled his eyes as he shook his head at Gaogamon. Even after so long of being with him Lucas sometimes could still find himself not used to his partner's constant peppiness. Usually just seeing his goofy grin usually cheered him up when he was down but today it wasn't enough.

"So I'm assuming Leya kicked my ass and she got away?" Lucas asked, despairingly. He already knew the answer, he had stupidly rushed in too fast and got his ass beat by an Elite. He clenched his fist; he heard the rumors about how strong she was by herself and he still thought he could handle her. Gaogamon opened his mouth to speak but another voice cut him off.

"Oh you definitely lost but I wouldn't say that I 'got away' nor did I technically kick your ass; it was more of a singular violent head-butt that did you in." Lucas turned to look behind him and to his astonishment, he saw Leya sitting cross-legged on a small boulder holding her head in her hands, a bored yet smug look on her face. She had different clothes on than the first time he had saw her; this time she wore a black cropped jacket with the hood up over her head, her hair flowing down from under it with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows over a light grey tank top, along with dark grey almost black cargo pants and black combat boots. With all that dark clothing she was wearing on the relatively warm day it was becoming, Lucas couldn't figure out how she wasn't drowning in her own sweat by now.

"To be honest, I didn't think I had hit you that hard but after your body immediately went limp I hurried and moved you to my camp so I could make sure you were alright. So yeah…sorry 'bout that." Lucas stood up and towered over her with a scowl on his face, his temper rising.

"What are you still doing here? Did you just want to rub in the fact that I got beaten by you so easily?! Or did you wanted to pity me, cause I don't need it!" Leya barely moved her head to look him in the eyes; they looked so...distraught. Lucas felt so taken aback by her gaze he felt his anger ebb away.

"No...You were hurt, and hurt by me no less...I couldn't just leave, I had to help you, especially considering we are both looking for the same person and you're not a bad person, a hotheaded jerk maybe but not bad." She paused turned her gaze away from Lucas and fidgeted a bit, like something was bothering her.

"You can say it's because I'm a big softy or it's because of my crest or whatever, but I hate leaving others behind, I hate leaving injured people when there something I can do to help...and I hate not knowing where my friends are..." She pulled her legs up to her chest and held them tightly.

"I'm looking for Will too...I don't know how long it's been since you've seen him, but for me and a lot of my friends it's been coming up on about seven months. And over the last few months it seems like I'm the only one that seems to care that he's gone."

Lucas felt a pang of guilt along with the realization he had come to; he and Leya were in the same boat of not knowing where Will was and he practically accused her of foul play earlier. He kicked himself mentally; the girl in front of him didn't seem capable of anything remotely malicious let alone hurting or even possibly killing her friend. Lucas sighed and sat back down on the bed roll.

"Hey look...I'm...sorry for you know... accusing and attacking you..." He apologized scratching the back of his head. He felt his mouth almost twitch into a small smile after he felt a fist lightly punch his shoulder.

"It's alright...I had to deal with a lot worse than a kid with an attitude problem over the years." Leya paused, a frown slowly forming on her face.

"Hey I got a question...?"

"Yea?"

"Not many people I know are actively looking for Will so, if you're looking for him, doesn't that mean you are one of the Guardians?" Lucas turned to her with a completely puzzled look on his face.

"You know, Will's old team before Gennai lumped me, him and a few others into a team of sorts." Leya explained.

"A Guardian? Pssh, no. Those guys are pretty much Elites like you. If anything I would have thought _you_ were one of the Guardians." Lucas scoffed then shook his head.

"Nah…Will had saved my life a while back and I gotta thank him for it and find some way to pay him back you know?"

"Huh…That's really noble, Lucas..." Leya nodded in response and then frowned again, turning to her thoughts. Why had she been so sure that Will had mentioned Lucas before? She tried to recall where or when he did but the only thing she could remember was him saying Lucas was his teammate, though for some reason Leya couldn't remember seeing his face during the conversation. It was like a dark haze was covering it, blocking that particular detail of her memory and his voice sounded as though it was stuck on a skipping record repeating the words: 'Lucas Star was one of my old teammates' over and over again. She felt her stomach turn as her mind wondered if this had something to do with her virus. By now she would have been stupid for not noticing something was definitely wrong with her; first it was the weird dream, then the mood swing that made her hurt Lucas, and now even it seemed her memories were being affected. She even took into account the different colors that appeared when she had materialized her sword earlier. If what Alex said about her body was true, which with him and the fact that his crest is that of Life was most likely true, the digital parts of her body becoming corrupted were beginning to seriously change how she acted and even how she thought.

"So…Leya? How can you do the whole, you know, sword summoning thing?" Leya sighed. She figured Lucas would ask about her sword, everyone who had seen it does. She had to admit that it wasn't normal for a Digidestined to summon anything let alone a whole sword to fight other Digimon; in fact she was the only Digidestined in known history to have that ability. She flashed him a small smile.

"Heh, if I told you I'd have to tell everybody that ever asked me! Besides, I kinda like the whole "mysterious swordsman" thing I got going on."

"Aw come on, that's not fair!" He whined.

Leya laughed as she stood up and picked up her one strap bag that was leaning against the side of the boulder she had been sitting on and threw it over her shoulder. Trying to explain why she could summon her sword would take all day and she couldn't waste any more time. She had to find Will and fast; not just for herself but possibly the rest of the world. It seemed that ever since Will disappeared, new factions of Digimon and Digidestined had popped up waging war against the Sovereigns, her own team had pretty much disbanded, the remaining Digidestined from the siege lost their will to fight, and the new generation would rather use the title of Digidestined to move out of their parent's house early and live in the Digital World than actually protect it. Bunch of freeloaders, Leya thought with disdain.

"Well anyway…seeing as you're feeling better and I'm on a bit of a time crunch, I'm gonna dip outta here. You can keep the bed roll, consider it an...um...apology gift." Leya turned on her heel and started walking off towards the forest at the foot of the mountain.

"Wait couldn't I come with you?! I mean we _are_ both looking for Will." Lucas jumped up and ran forward, grabbing Leya's arm and spinning her around to face him. He wasn't quite sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him but he could've swore he saw her eyes flash a light shade of purple just for a split second.

"Ah! Uh… Heh…Well, the thing is…Um…Look, it's not you… it's me." Leya mentally kicked herself for using that cliché breakup line for this situation. She scratched the back of her head, hoping to jump start her brain for coherent sentences so she didn't put her foot in her mouth again. Her sudden fidgeting made Lucas suspect there was something more to her than what she was letting on.

"I'm sorry Lucas you seem like a really nice guy and would be nice to travel with you but I'm afraid I can't have you holding me back right now." She stumbled over her words, quick to make an excuse.

" ' _Holding you back'_?! I'm not some fucking kid; I can take care of myself!" Lucas growled, his temper threatening to get the better of him. Leya threw up her hands in a faux surrender.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Okay sorry wrong choice of words but like I said you have nothing to do with it. Besides if I wanted you to tag along I would've asked you come with me otherwise…I'm not gonna lie… I'm a bit of a _flight_ risk." As if on cue, a huge shadow flew over the two, accompanied by a sudden torrent of wind strong enough to knock Lucas back away from Leya and to the ground. When the wind died down, Leya was no longer in front of him but miles away in the air riding on the back of a black and golden armored dragon.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" He screamed after her and her partner's fleeting forms. Lucas hastily packed up the bed roll in his bag and hopped on the back of his partner.

"Gaogamon, come on we are going after them!"

"But Leya said she-"

"Forget what she said! She is our best lead to Will and she is hiding something. And I am going to find out what."

* * *

"Nice timing there buddy." Leya breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned back on Komodomon's armor and put her arm over her eyes. She was really glad that Komodomon showed up when he did. Not only did it keep her from having an awkward moment after making that pun, but kept her from attacking Lucas again. In the moment that he had grabbed her arm to stop her, Leya didn't see Lucas as some kid she had just met but as the one creature so horrible that haunted her dreams still even after she killed had him some time ago and she had almost summoned her sword to attack him instinctively. Leya swore under her breath; now she was having hallucinations. She was getting worse and what was really scaring her was how fast her condition was deteriorating.

 _Would it have been better if I had stayed at Alex's instead of running off on a whim?_ Leya groaned as she questioned her own motives. _I mean it's not like I got a real lead or anything and the only person that would probably help me is in increasing danger the longer I'm around him._

"Leya...!" She sat up at the sound of her name being called.

"What's up Komodo?"

"Have you been listening to me at all?" He glanced back at her. She had been so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't even realize Komodomon had been talking to her.

"I'd be lying if I said yes." Leya chuckled sheepishly. Komodomon rolled his eyes, turning his head back towards the open sky.

"Well if you had been paying attention you would know that I found a possible lead to Will." She almost fell of her partner's back in shock.

"Wait...Wh-What?! Seriously you found something? How?" He chuckled at Leya's surprise.

"There's the reaction I was looking for. Anyway I was saying that while I was out scouting, I came across a village that heard word of sightings and a warning about a lone wolf-like Digimon with red markings on its fur roaming the northern mountains. The locals said that it definitely wasn't a Garurumon or any other of the usual wolf Digimon that they have seen."

"So no one saw a human with it?" Komodomon shook his head solemnly.

"Not only is this Strikemon partner-less, but it is seemingly feral; it won't let anyone near it, anybody that does gets attacked." Leya felt her heart stop for a split second. All her previous concerns vanished about herself, replaced by an overwhelming sense of hope.

"We need to hurry then! If Strikemon went feral then that means something bad happened to Will!" Komodomon's neck twitched.

"Leya I understand the urgency here but…I really think we need to go back to Alex first."

"What? Why?! We are so close we actually have a lead and we need to help Strikemon! Leya argued.

"I understand that but don't think that I haven't noticed your episodes lately; the sleepwalking and the mood swing that had you almost seriously injured a friendly –albeit a somewhat asshole-y- Digidestined added with the nightmare you told me about, honestly I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you got checked out first." Leya began to feel a strange sense of panic, like she had been watching a horror movie and was starting to feel anxious for the characters on screen. She couldn't go back to Alex, not now, not when Strikemon was close and possibly hurt.

"Komodomon, it would take too long for us to go all the way back to Alex's then head north. I mean, we're almost at the border anyway why don't we just help Strikemon THEN go to Alex's?" Leya suggested with a small amount of pleading in her voice. Komodomon said nothing, but made a slight turn towards the north.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Leya squealed, hugging Komodomon's neck. She couldn't see him but she could tell he rolled his eyes.

"You're lucky I like you." Leya scoffed.

"Nah, you love me." Komodomon chuckled in response as he sped forward.

* * *

"Are you sure you saw it around here?"

"Yeah of course I'm sure that beast nearly used me as a damn chew toy! It was just as big as a Garurumon, but twice as nasty." A flustered Pixiemon squeaked.

"Luckily for me, it got bored of clawing after me once I hid up higher in a tree than it could jump and then took off towards the old ruins." The young woman questioning the Digimon sighed, running her fingers through her short blonde hair, closing her eyes for a few seconds feeling the warm breeze flow through her royal blue trench coat. She had been on this Digimon's trail for the past week ever since she heard rumors of a Strikemon roaming around in the North. However, no matter how fast she arrived it seemed as though she had just missed her target.

"Thank you for the information, Pixiemon. I can take it from here." She dismissed the tiny Digimon who gladly took flight away from the forest. The woman took in her surroundings. There were several fractured and damaged trees around her, most were covered in either large claw or bite marks but there were a few that had distinct burn marks. Many of the trees showed signs of claw marks up the length of the tree as if Strikemon was attempting to climb up them but all stopped at the same place: about fifteen feet up the tree. What she found interesting as she followed the damage in the small clearing however, was that the damage to the trees only appeared to be on the trunks in her immediate area in a near perfect circle until there was a sudden bee-line of splintered wood and trampled bushes towards the north-east. The woman frowned. Something or someone had kept him in this clearing like it was a concrete enclosure before allowing him to run towards the ruins. She sighed, what was hopefully just going to be a simple search and secure mission had turned into a possible hostage situation. She ran her fingers through her hair again, then chuckled as she found herself suddenly smiling. Of course her mission wouldn't be as simple or straight-forward as she had anticipated, then again she should've expected things wouldn't had gone as planned when she dealt with anything concerning Will Murphy.

After all, Lisa was not only Will's former teammate but she was also his ex-girlfriend.


End file.
